The present invention relates generally to pattern dyeing of textile material, for example carpet, and, more particularly, to the dispensing of multiple dye colors on carpet in a variety of patterns, including irregular and apparently random patterns.
The printing of tufted carpets in well known in the art, and is carried out by a variety of techiques. At the present time, most carpet printing is done by techniques more or less analogous to conventional printing techniques, such as rotary printing and screen printing. The use of such traditional carpet printing techniques requires an individual roller or screen for each color of each individual pattern which it may be desired to print. These rollers or screens are typically twelve or fifteen feet wide, and involve great expense both in initial manufacture and in storage.
Recently, a variety of other techniques have been proposed and implemented to produce a wide variety of visually pleasing carpet printing effects, essentially limited only by imagination.
One attractive alternative to carpet printing techniques is controlled dye jet printing wherein plural colored dyes are sprayed or jetted onto the surface of relatively moving textile material. Generally, such jet printing machines comprise a plurality of dye applicators extending across the path of carpet travel, each dye applicator including a multiplicity of dye outlet tubes or nozzles extending in a line along the applicator transverse to the direction of carpet travel, with the nozzles of each of the applicators being supplied with a different color dye. Each individual nozzle or jet is controllaby actuated by suitable electronic, pneumatic or mechanical means to dispense dyes onto the moving textile material under control of a suitable pattern controller. By way of representative example, one general form of jet printing apparatus, along with various forms of controllers, is disclosed in the following patents: Weber et al U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,443,878 and 3,570,275; Stewart, Jr. U.S. Pat. No. 3,969,779; Kline U.S. Pat. No. 3,985,006; Johnson U.S. Pat. No. 4,033,154; and Varner U.S. Pat. No. 4,116,626. Another, particularly effective type of jet pattern dyeing apparatus is disclosed in pending U.S. Application Ser. No. 085,943, filed Oct. 18, 1979, by Billy Joe Otting, and entitled "Jet Pattern Dyeing of Material, Particularly Carpet," which was continued as application Ser. No. 237,577, filed Feb. 24, 1981, now U.S. Pat. No. 4,341,098.
It will be appreciated that such jet pattern dyeing or printing machines, through suitable programming of the individual closely-spaced dye nozzles, are capable of producing an extremely wide variety of carpet printing effects, particularly when it is considered that dyes of various viscosities may even be employed to produce effects other than would apparently be possible merely with pattern control. With jet printing apparatus, pattern effects may range from extremely intricate and closely repeated patterns, limited only by the resolution of the apparatus determined by nozzle spacing (typically 0.1 inch), to apparently random effects effected by causing irregular shapes of various colors and sizes to be jet printed on the carpet through suitable pattern control.
However, the high precision and resolution possible with a controlled dye jet printer, together with attendant cost, is not necessary for all applications. In the carpet industry, much time and effort is expended to create different and original color patterns in pile materials. Different forms of applicators, although not capable of the resolution of true controlled jet pattern apparatus wherein controlled dye nozzles apply color dyes directly to the carpet, have been proposed employed for pattern dyeing of carpet in varying degrees of randomness, frequently with novel and visually pleasing results.
One such example is known in the art as "TAK" dyeing. In TAK dyeing, carpet is conveyed under a dye applicator which drips or splatters dye onto carpet yarn conveyed below the applicator. The applicator includes a lick roll which picks up dye from a trough, and the dye is scraped from the lick roller by a doctor blade. The doctor blade includes a plurality of individual channels for dividing the dye into a plurality of separate dye streams. The dye streams, as they issue from the doctor blade, are broken up into smaller streams or drippings by mechanical dye stream interrupter elements positioned below the lower edge of the doctor blades. To randomize the pattern, various devices oscillate both the doctor blade carrying the separate streams, and the mechanical interrupter devices. By way of example, such TAK dyeing machines are disclosed in the following patents: Takriti et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,683,649; Appenzeller et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,731,503; and Takriti et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,800,568.
A variation on the TAK dyeing process is disclosed in the Miller et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,127,014. The disclosed Miller et al machine is capable of multicolor TAK dyeing, and includes a pair of opposed identical applicators, each including a plurality of channel-like doctor blade extensions for producing separate dye streams, which are then broken up by various mechanical interrupters positioned below the channel outlets. In addition to the dye scraped by the doctor blade from the dye pick-up roll, adjustable blocking plugs or wedges are provided to stop the flow of dye from particular channels, and a separate dye conduit and valving arrangement permits dye of a color different from the base color scraped off by the doctor blade to fall in place of the dye from individual blocked off channels.
Another variation on the TAK dyeing process is the apparatus disclosed in the Balmforth U.S. Pat. No. 3,937,044. The Balmforth apparatus employs a flat doctor blade, with a separate reciprocating corrugated sheet defining channels disposed beneath the lower edge of the doctor blade.
Another form of more or less random patterning carpet dyeing apparatus is known as a "Polychromatic dyeing machine". Examples are disclosed in the Harris et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,688,530 and the Stankard et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,801,275. A polychromatic dyeing machine comprises one or more rows of dye nozzles or jets, each row of nozzles being mounted on a respective carriage bar which is reciprocal transversely of the carpet web. Liquid dye streams from the nozzles directly onto the carpet web or other fabric to be dyed. If the design pattern to be applied is merely a stripped design, the carriage bars remain stationary during the passage of the carpet web there beneath. When it is intended to vary the pattern, the carriage bars are reciprocated in various predetermined motions. Of similar effect are the machines disclosed in the Chaussabel U.S. Pat. No. 2,218,811 and the Davis et al U.S. Pat. No. 3,785,179.
Still another form of apparatus for dyeing textiles and carpets in more or less random patterns through control of the dye application is known in the art as "Kusters Color", and is for example disclosed in the Leifeld U.S. Pat. No. 3,964,860 and the Moser U.S. Pat. No. 4,170,958. This type of applicator employs a dye pick-up roll which transfers dye in liquid form to a substantially flat, inclined doctor blade. The film of dye flowing over the doctor blade is irregularized by being diverted by means of narrow mechanical scraper blades or air blasts directed at the doctor blade or pick-up roll. In one particular form of the Kusters Color apparatus, the air blasts are delivered by a rotating and reciprocating hollow tube extending across the doctor blade, with a plurality of air outlet openings distributed over the surface of the hollow tube.
Still another form of carpet patterning apparatus is disclosed in the Ahrweiler et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,033,153 wherein a rotating pick-up roll transfers dye from a reservoir trough to a substantially flat doctor blade, and a plurality of vertically pivoting channels are provided at the bottom end of the doctor blade. The channels are individually pivotable between one position in which dye liquid is permitted to flow onto the carpet, and another position in which the liquid dye is directed to a catch pan from which it can be returned to the dye reservoir trough.
Yet another form of apparatus for producing irregular dyeing effects on carpet is disclosed in the Plotz U.S. Pat. No. 3,903,715. In the Plotz apparatus, dye liquid is applied by means of rotating discs arranged in horizontal position above the carpet. Dye liquid is supplied either continuously or in drops to the surfaces of the rotating discs, and centrifugal force divides the dye into individual drops of different size and spreads the dye over the width of the carpet.
Another form disclosed in the Mathes et al U.S. Pat. No. 4,157,652 employs a plurality of rotating drums positioned above the carpet web. Each of the drums has a plurality of cavities formed in the outer surface thereof, and dye is supplied to these cavities. As the drums rotate, dye falls from the cavities onto the carpet web traveling therebeneath, forming an irregular and random pattern.
From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that a wide variety of techniques and apparatus have been proposed for continuous application of color patterns to carpet, in more or less random manner. The present invention provides such apparatus which is highly versatile, capable of producing an extremely wide range of pattern effects, and yet is relatively low in cost. Further, the applicator apparatus of the present invention may be retrofitted at relatively low cost to an existing uniform applicator comprising merely a rotative pick up roll and a doctor blade, with no means to vary the pattern absent apparatus of the present invention. Thus the benefits of the invention may be readily realized, as a practical matter, at minimal expense and inconvenience.